Man has been using devices to keep time from at least as early as the 16th century B.C. These earliest devices were simple water clocks with the first mechanical clocks appearing in 13th century Europe. The first mechanical clocks did not have a visual indicator of the time, but instead signaled the time audibly via bells. Over the centuries, a visual indicator was added in the form of a clock face, which eventually evolved into the traditional twelve-hour face used on many analog clocks. With advancements in technology, digital clocks that display the time in readable digits became prevalent in the 1960s and have steadily been replacing analog clocks. In fact, most individuals today are familiar with digital clocks, and many find them much easier to use than analog clocks.
Common among most clocks, either digital or analog, is their reliance on either Roman or Arabic numbers to indicate the time. Some clocks, such as the one described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,013, have abandoned the use of Roman or Arabic numbers. These clocks instead use a complex pattern of flashing lights integrated in a piece of art. While this design is creative, it is not easily identifiable to an uninitiated observer as a clock. Furthermore, even if an individual is aware that the device is a clock and is trained to use it, he/she must still wait for the clock to go through its complex pattern of flashing lights, to discern the time. A clock that does not use Roman and Arabic numbers, but still displays the time in a customary 12-hour or 24-hour format, would be desirable to provide entertainment along with a useful display of the time of day. One such customary format is the one commonly used with digital clocks, namely, [h1h2]: [m1m2]·[s1s2], where:                h1=tens digits of the hour being displayed, in units of 0 through 2;        h2=ones digits of the hour being displayed, in units of 0 through 9;        m1=tens digits of the minutes being displayed, in units of 0 through 5;        m2=ones digits of the minutes being displayed, in units of 0 through 9;        s1=tens digits of the seconds being displayed, in units of 0 through 5; and        s2=ones digits of the seconds being displayed, in units of 0 through 9.        